Surrender
“If a person has totally surrendered his life to God, God will never let him out of His sight. God will always look after him and at any time, God will provide him with everything he needs and take care of him.”
Once we have surrendered to the divine will, we then have complete faith and trust in God. Baba once told the following story to a group of devotees as an example of absolute devotion, faith, trust and surrender to God.
“Once a very rich man was on a train and traveling in the same compartment, sitting opposite and unbeknown to him, was a saint. The rich man watched him steadfastly with disgust and disdain. When lunchtime came around, he signaled to his servant who was sitting in a corner to serve the meal he had brought with him. Whilst the rich man was eating his lunch, he suddenly began to scold and berate the saint. “You good-for-nothing, useless beggar, loafer and knock around. You waste God’s time and are not useful to anyone. Do you expect others to feed and help you? You can only gain the respect of others by working and earning a living. I have worked hard and made my way, and by my great efforts have become very rich and can afford everything. See how sumptuously I eat, but don’t think I will share any of it with you – just see where you will get your lunch from.”
In a gentle and friendly voice, the saint began to speak. “Sir, there is no need to scold me for I do not demand anything from you. If I have unknowingly caused you to be angry then I ask you to forgive me. It was not my intention, and besides, God always provides me with all the necessities, when and where I need them. Therefore sir, don’t be afraid that I will ask or require, anything from you.”
“Yes, yes, everything falls down from heaven and comes by itself,” the rich man scoffed. “Don’t make me laugh. ‘Work hard’ is my motto as nothing falls down from heaven.”
Silently the saint directed his gaze down to the floor and said nothing. As the train came to a halt at the next station, a guard hurried through the corridor, calling out that there would be a half hour stop. Quietly and calmly the saint got up, left the train and went outside to get a drink of water. As the rich man was observing the saint from his train window, he saw another person hurry over to the saint with a big multi stage food container, calling out, “Swami, Swami. My master sent me to offer you this meal.” Hardly had the saint received the container when the man who had brought the food vanished from sight. The rich man watched in astonishment. Then he saw how the saint sat down on the ground, opened the containers and offered all the food to God, thanking Him for His wonderful care. Then he called all the hungry beggars around, took a small portion for himself and distributed the rest to the beggars. The rich man, full of envious surprise, realized that the saint’s meal had been much more sumptuous and inviting than his own.
When the saint got back into the compartment, he said to the rich man with a gentle and loving glance, “See sir, my Lord has blessed me with an abundant meal. You are just a gentleman of this world but my Lord, however, is ruler of the whole universe. Since I live only for Him, trust in Him and love Him, He cares for me every time, never leaving me alone. He provides me every time and everywhere with everything I need. I have totally surrendered my life to Him, continually thinking of Him and placing all my trust in Him.”
Baba has also said, “Whenever a devotee totally surrenders to God, dedicating everything to Him, their problems and diseases inevitably go to the divine incarnation. Even if they did not ask me to take their hardships, these will come to me nevertheless. One can compare this principle to magnetism. Whether or not the magnet wants it, the iron filings which surround it will automatically be attracted and get stuck to it.”
“Surrender totally to God and miracles will happen.”
– BABA –
PS. This story may sound rather ‘far fetched’ to some readers not familiar with, or maybe lacking in understanding of the Guru-disciple relationship, but it has been the experience of this particular devotee, as indeed many other devotees, that incidents such as the above DO, in fact happen although perhaps not always so dramatically.